Along The Cambria Coast

Last week, my friend, Sharon Weaver, and I drove up the beautiful coast of California on our way to a California Art Club paint-out in Tomales Bay which is north of San Francisco.  Seventy-five CAC artists were expected in Northern California on Friday and would stay at the Mosconi Conference Center there in Tomales Bay.   I had never been, but everyone told us it was a beautiful place to be -- "painting heaven".

Sharon and I decided to take Highway One up the coast.  It is a longer route than through the center of the state, but has far more spectacular scenery.  Over the years, storms have washed out parts of the road below Monterey, but the wonderful highway engineers are working to restore the iconic road and the delays were worth the vistas.

We stayed in Cambria, near Hearst Castle on our first night.  We got there in late afternoon after stopping in several beautiful spots to take photos.  Although we COULD have painted that day, we were tired and it was rather cold and windy so we opted to bundle up and walk up the coast then to take in a delicious fish dinner near the hotel.

The next morning we got up early and found a spot to paint.  What a gorgeous place!   We chatted with several visiters, each of us had fun painting AND we got to see lots of cows, seagulls, elephant seals and (surprise) a herd of zebra!!!  This is the painting I created that morning:

Along The Cambria Coast

Finishing up our plein air sketches, we packed up and headed north toward Half Moon Bay where we planned to stay the second night.  Along the way of course, we stopped for a picnic lunch, lots of photos of every beautiful thing we could capture, and some nice walks.

Life is good -- especially for those of us who love to paint plein air!!

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